The reason I am spending so much time on this is because I feel passionate about it, and now being part of the Super 1 Team, feel I have a responsibility to represent the organisation, its aims and objectives, as far as I am aware of them from discussions I have had. I should say that the views I express are mine alone, and I do not have an official PR position as such.
As for the cameras, I know for a fact that John is selling these at cost to him. The reasoning behind their specification is simple: the HD version is more expensive than the SD version, but the original filming is being done using an HD format, so the cameras have to match that format. The reason for using them though is to address contact issues. If you get accused of punting someone off and penalised incorrectly, (happened to my son twice in his racing career), you will be able to bring your camera to the meeting, and as part of your evidence, produce your onboard footage, showing there was no contact. That to me is a price worth paying, and personally, I'd have two on, one front, and one back. Some wag suggested that if you punt someone off you tell them the card wasn't in. Very good..... but when the CoC says the observers saw it this way and we are penalising you, unless you can provide evidence to the contrary.... if you then try and say you had no card in... decision made. It's a win win for everyone in my opinion.
I have to say, having tested one yesterday, and again today, they are absolutely brilliant. Set it up, then turn on, one button record and stop... I connect the camera to my Mac laptop using the usb port, it recognises the camera as a drive, you click on the file and it opens in the Quicktime Player, with a fantastic HD widescreen image. I cannot tell you how good it is... brilliant probably does not do it justice, it's better than that. I've not calculated the angle of view, but it is so wide it is likely any contact from behind either side of your back bumper will be well in the shot.
No doubt some people will forget to turn them on, or they may suffer a malfunction occasionally, but as you never need to remove the card during the weekend (you download by plugging the camera into the usb, not via a card reader), the excuse that a card was left out would be a hard one to sell anyway.
As an innovation, even without TV coverage and the benefit for that purpose, I think the decision is inspired, and in a year, nobody will understand why anyone was complaining in the first place. If it goes the way I expect it to, expect the karting regs to be updated to include the fact that you can now use an onboard camera in ANY club or national event (optional), and specifying this one as the one, due to its ease of use for the competitors and officials. They are that good.
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